The Wind Song Time
by Blackbetsirose
Summary: Ten, Donna, and Ten II make a visit to a planet for a cleansing of sorts. The title "Going Forward" was the original title, and I didn't change it on the document. Yay.


Going Forward

I do not own Ten, Ten II, Donna Noble, or Doctor Who. The BBC does.

The Doctor watched as his Duplicate and Donna walked across the grasslands, the winds whipping their clothing, and Donna's hair making them look ethereal and beautiful. Donna's ankle length dress and matching wrap was made of Ionian silk, in a brilliant green that shimmered in sunlight. The Duplicate was wearing loose trousers, and a long tunic also of the Ionian silk but his were TARDIS blue. The Doctor himself was clad a similar set of trousers and tunic, though his were the color of the interior of the TARDIS. Bits of coral and grenn mixed together.

They were on Ionia, their first stop since the metacrisis had been resolved. Ionia was a planet dominated by near constant winds, and during one of the more temperate seasons, the winds were particularly wild and strong. Ionians viewed this warm windy period as a time of renewal and cleansing, and so they made an annual pilgrimage, the Wind Song Time, to this grassland continent to stand where the winds were most strong and uninhibited. There were no permanent settlements here, only camps for pilgrims to stay for however long they deemed necessary. Some stayed for a few days, others a few weeks, and still more for the entire season.

The Doctor had thought this would be a good place to begin his, Donna's and the Duplicate's new life together. The Doctor had planned to send his Duplicate with Rose to Pete's World, dropping him, Jackie and Rose there before returning the others to London in the original universe, but mere moments after the Duplicate had left and the TARDIS began dematerializing, Donna had fallen to the floor, head in her hands, screaming. There was an answering faint scream outside the TARDIS, and a telepathic cry from the TARDIS herself. The Doctor aborted the dematerialization, and flung open the doors. His Duplicate was kneeling on the sand, and like Donna, held his head in his hands. Jackie stood concerned with her hand on his shoulder, and he noted Rose standing nearby looking rather unconcerned. That disturbed him, but he put that out of his mind, and grabbed his Duplicate, hauling him into the TARDIS. Immediately, his screaming and that of Donna's stopped, and a faint gold light passed between them. It was then the Doctor knew the two could not be separated.

With the walls closing, the Doctor said a hasty goodbye to Jackie from the doorway, saw Rose running towards the TARDIS, and jumped back when the timeship slammed her doors on Rose. He could hear Rose banging on the doors even as the TARDIS dematerialized again.

Once back in their universe, the Doctor put them in the Vortex and took the Duplicate and Donna to the medbay where he subjected them to scan after scan until Donna slapped the instruments away, told him they were fine as long as they weren't separated significantly (they didn't have to be in the same room together, just in the general vicinity of each other so the Time Lord consciousness could be shared without burning out their synapses. Eventually they hoped to find a solution to this without memory wipes, or possible death). She dragged them both to the kitchen and declared they needed tea and some dinner. Then they needed to return Jack, Mickey, Martha, and Sarah Jane home. Then some sleep. Then the inevitable visit to Sylvia and Wilf to show they were alright, and explain the Duplicate. And the Duplicate still needed a name. Donna had declared this was a new beginning for them, and should be treated as such. That's when Ionia, and it's Wind Song Time was brought up. They decided to go there first.

The Doctor and the TARDIS worked out the coordinates so they would arrive at the beginning of the season. They first stopped in one of the larger settlements to procure attire appropriate for the occasion. Ionian silk was highly prized galactically, though the Ionians themselves only wore it during the Wind Song Time. Ionian silk dealers were known for their ability to match the colors of their silk garments to the wearer. An ankle length, three quarter sleeve brilliant green dress with matching wrap was chosen for Donna, and for the Duplicate, the Doctor, Donna and he were impressed when the dealer produced trousers and a tunic the exact shade of blue of the TARDIS. The Doctor had wanted to just wear his suit, but the dealer had said he had a set of clothes for him, and it would be most appropriate for the Doctor to wear that which the others wore. A further glare from Donna and a raised eyebrow from the Duplicate, changed his mind the rest of the way, and he accepted the garments from the dealer. The three exclaimed at the colors, as they were the coral and green mixture that was the interior of the TARDIS.

They took the clothes, paid and thanked the dealer, and went back to the TARDIS, where they changed in their rooms, meeting up in the console room for the short journey to the grassland continent. The Doctor was momentarily taken aback by the sight of Donna in her dress and wrap, as she entered, running her hands through her hair which she'd left down as part of the Wind Song Time. Hair was let down to blow free, to allow the cleansing winds to get everywhere. He jumped when a hand dropped to his shoulder, and turned to see the Duplicate behind him with a smirk on his face. Shaking himself out of his stupor, he directed Donna and the Duplicate to their places at the console and they left the settlement, and landed on the grassland continent.

Leaving the TARDIS, they followed a group of Ionians heading towards the one permanent structure, which was a temple of sorts that had no walls, only large poles that supported the roof. Once there, they would wait to see the High Ecclesiast who would give them a blessing of sorts on their cleansing and renewal. The walk was pleasant, the winds warm, though a bit blustery for Donna's taste as she kept having to push her hair from her face. But she supposed if they were just breezes, they wouldn't have whatever cleansing effect the Ionians said they did.

The Doctor dropped back a little to walk behind his Duplicate and Donna, and he watched mesmerized at Donna's dress and wrap billowing around her and her glorious hair fanning out in the winds. He had eyes only for her. So deep in his thoughts and watching of Donna, that he didn't realize they'd made it to the temple until he'd run into the Duplicate. He moved between the two, the Duplicate stepping to the side with another smirk, and the Doctor felt his hearts give a lurch when Donna stepped close to him, slipped her arm into his, and rested her head on his shoulder.

They waited in line for their turn, and when their turn came, they stepped forward in front of the High Ecclesiast. He asked for their names and relationship to each other, and the Doctor heard the Duplicate declare his name was Jonathan Noble, and he was the brother of Donna, and friend to the Doctor. Donna declared her name was Donna Noble, sister of Jonathan, and friend to the Doctor. The Doctor declared his name as Theta Sigma (which sent Donna's and Jonathan's eyebrows to their foreheads, but the Doctor felt he needed a name other than Doctor for this particular event, and his name from the Academy he thought would suffice), and he was a friend to the Noble siblings. Confused, the High Ecclesiast asked how the Doctor could look identical to Jonathan, yet claim to be not related. Quirk of their species was all the explanation he gave.

The High Ecclesiast accepted that, though he was extremely curious, and continued, giving them a blessing for good health, and a long life. He told them to go out of the temple, stand in the winds and let the Song of the Wind cleanse and renew themselves and their lives. They thanked the High Ecclesiast and left the temple, and walked a good fifty feet from it. They faced the wind, and let it buffet them, the Doctor in the middle, Donna and Jonathan on either side. The Doctor turned to look at Donna, who had her eyes closed, and her arms spread wide. He watched her as the wind blew her dress, and hair, and couldn't make himself look away when she opened her eyes, and saw him watching her.

Donna's eyes were closed as she felt the wind blowing through her hair, and shifting the silken garments she wore over her body. She knew her mind should be on this cleansing, but her mind stubbornly refused to let go of the image of the Doctor in his coral and green tunic and trousers. She'd been a little disappointed when he'd dropped back behind her and Jonathan, on their journey to the temple. But then she'd felt his eyes on her, and she'd felt her cheeks burning a little. Giving a half-hearted glare at Jonathan when he'd snorted at her, she's trained her eyes on the wall-less building in front of them. She'd giggled quietly when Jonathan had been jostled by the Doctor running into him.

She'd been surprised when the Doctor gave his name as Theta Sigma instead of Doctor. She'd been further surprised when instead of one of his epic babbles, he'd just given the High Ecclesiast the explanation for his similar looks to Jonathan as a quirk of the species. After the blessing, they'd walked outside the temple to stand directly in the winds. She'd kept her eyes closed, for fear of just staring at the Doctor, something she didn't want to have to try and explain. But she'd felt like she'd been being watched, so she did open her eyes after a little while. Now she saw that the Doctor was staring at her, with a look in his eyes she wasn't sure she could really believe was there. They just stared at each other this way, for quite some time. And then they weren't. Somehow, and neither one could say how, they'd leaned in. And when their lips brushed together, how didn't matter. They kissed again, and let themselves get lost in it. His hands moved one to her hair, the other to her waist bringing her closer. Her hands moved up his arms, to around his neck, to tangle in his hair there.

Jonathan watched all this, and at the sound of pilgrims making gawping noises and some applauding, he realized as his sister and their friend weren't stopping anytime soon, he'd have to intervene, if only to get them to take it somewhere less…public. He cleared his throat a couple of times, and they broke apart, Donna flushing a brilliant crimson at the sight of Ionians watching them, but with a wide smile on her face. The Doctor however, merely draped his arm across her shoulders and gave a large gleeful grin as he observed their observers. Donna saw the smug look on his face, and whapped him on the chest muttering "Prawn," before stepping out of his embrace and taking his hand.

The Doctor made no effort to stop her as she pulled him in the direction the TARDIS was parked. He followed her, eagerly anticipating where she'd like to take this.

Jonathan followed behind them, a smile on his face, but not for the reason you'd think. Nah. He was happily adding up the figures in his head that would total the sum of money he and Sarah Jane would be collecting from Jack, Mickey, and Martha. The bet had been placed during the return to London after Donna and Jonathan's conditions had been stabilized. Jonathan cackled as he entered the TARDIS, earning confused looks from Donna and the Doctor. He waved them off, saying it was nothing, and that he was going to go call Jack, and for them to carry on whatever it was they wanted to do.

Jonathan hadn't even left the console room before the Doctor had sent them into the Vortex, he and Donna had wrapped themselves around each other, and they stumbled towards the jump seat.


End file.
